Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Broken Bonds
by BlueToast
Summary: Years after the presidency of Jonathan Joestar Jr. the government has grown fully aware of the existence of stands. In order to protect the populace from stand users, they have built prison-like buildings to hold them in. However, since only law abiding citizens allow themselves to be subjected to the imprisonment, an army of evil stand users begins to build.
1. Broken Bonds

A brisk walk carried the man along. Before he got too close to the white building he made sure to adjust his tie. He managed to tighten it without dropping his briefcase; a talent he had earned after years of practice. Stepping through the front doors of the establishment provided a quick peek through its clean and friendly veil. After only a few seconds of looking at armed guards one could glean that this was not a place one would choose to be sent to. The busy man quickly looked around the main hall to see that there was no semblance of a secretary. "Excuse me," he addressed a guard, "I have scheduled an appointment that is due in a few minutes. Do you know where I might go to fulfil that meeting?"

The guard nodded in a friendly manner before pointing to a door a bit further into the main hall. "The visiting room is through there sir. There should be a woman there who will help you."

"Thank you." The busy man said, nodding back. He hurried through the door and flagged down one of the several women walking around with clipboards. "I'm here for a meeting. I believe my number was 4-A." He explained.

After briefly peeking at her clipboard she put her finger to her ear and began to talk into a small microphone by her mouth. "Please bring out 4-A." She looked back up to the busy man before she continued to talk. "Please have a seat at booth five." She pointed across the rows of waiting room chairs to direct his attention to a row of glass panes resembling a prison visiting room.

He nodded and slowly made his way to his seat. The chair was surprisingly comfy, so he reclined and pulled a few key documents out of his briefcase. He hadn't waited very long before a young man was brought to sit on the opposite side of the glass from him. "I've never had a visitor before. I'm not sure what to say." The young man said. He fidgeted around in his seat awkwardly.

"That's alright, I'll do the talking." The busy man said. "My name is Zeke Allen, and I represent the SPWF."

"Speedwagon Foundation, right?" The young man asked.

"Good, you've heard of us." Zeke smiled as he ruffled through his papers. "You don't need to introduce yourself; I've done my research." The young man pulled his head back, starting to feel a bit suspicious. Zeke waved his hand back and forth, smiling. "No, no. It's nothing sinister, I assure you. You see, you are a particularly important person to the SPWF. We've been trying for a while to get you released; but no matter what we try, they always find a way to brush us off." The young man relaxed back in his seat as he listened to Zeke. "Given the delicate nature of the problem I am about to share with you, the SPWF has allowed me to step in on the process."

Zeke placed a few papers on the counter, turned them around so the young man could read them, and pushed them forward. "You know why this establishment was built, correct?" Zeke asked. The papers were covered in schematics and mission statements for the building they were in.

"To protect the populace, right?" The young man asked back. "They want to protect citizens from us. From our 'powers.'"

"We at the SPWF have a name for those 'powers.' We call them 'Stands.' A manifestation of your spirit that stands with you in battle. Normal people can't see them, making them very dangerous. Once a technique to determine normal humans from stand users was discovered, the government built these institutions to hold them." Zeke looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds before continuing the conversation. "Unfortunately, these buildings can only hold stand users who abide by the law. A critical flaw of our government is not being able to understand that criminals break the law, not citizens. That's where you come in. There is a particularly nasty stand user that's been amassing himself an army, and the government is powerless to stop him."

"What does that have to do with me? It's not like I'm the only stand user here." The young man asked.

"No, but your family has had a lot of experience battling stand users. One might say that it's in your blood, your destiny. It all springs from that birthmark on the back of your neck, Mr. Joestar." Zeke smirked.

The young man slid his chair back, covering the back of his neck with his hand. "What does this have to do with stands?" He asked.

"You share that mark with a man who fought off an onslaught of stands not too long ago. His name was Jonathan Joestar Jr. In my opinion, the greatest president who ever lived." Zeke smiled at the image in his head.

"Are you saying I'm related to a past president?" Joestar asked.

"Jordan Joestar, trapped here since you were eight. You're related to more than a president. You have a long line of reasons to choose you for this mission." Zeke tilted his head quickly. "Quick question, if you could leave here right now, is there someone you would want to bring along with you?"

"Yes," Jordan said. he appeared to think for a second before finishing his answer. "A little girl. She's a little younger than me when I first got sent here. I want to take her back to her family."

Zeke tapped his fingernail loudly against the desk in front of him. Jordan looked down to see instructions written over the schematics in marker. "7:00, window of the east courtyard (The one with the red flowers)." It read. Jordan studied it for a second before looking back up at Zeke, who was packing up his briefcase. "I look forward to seeing you, and your friend, tonight. Have a nice day Mr. Joestar." He said, placing the last paper in his case. He walked away with the same brisk pace that carried him in.

A guard came over to take Jordan back. Jordan happily complied, a trait uncommon for him. "It's been nice, wouldn't you say." He asked the guard with a large smile. The guard gave him a disgusted look, and pushed him through the door.

Jordan held the little girl's hand as they walked through the hall. She kept looking behind her at the guard that was following them. "Where are we going Jojo?" She asked.

"I told you Haley, we're going to see a friend of mine." Jordan said with a smile.

"I don't think the guards want us to go this way." Haley said.

"Hey, where are you two going?" One of the guards following them asked.

"Don't worry about them, they can't tell us what to do anymore." Jordan smirked. Haley had no idea what he meant. They stopped in front of a window to a beautiful courtyard. It was full of flowerbeds, and provided a great view of the sunset. A clock on the wall nearby showed the time at 6:59. It even provided the amount of seconds at 52. It wasn't long after they had stopped that two more guards approached them from the opposite direction of the first.

With their guns pointed at Jordan and Haley, they began to bark orders. "You aren't authorized to roam freely at this time. Return to the correct area, or you will be met with force." Haley was terrified, and hugging Jordan's leg. Jordan, on the other hand, was chuckling at the clock, which had just struck seven. "You have five seconds to comply." The guard said. However, his attention was broken by the fact that he could see his breath. As the guard next to him began to shiver, he grew uneasy. "How did it get so cold in here? Did one of you two do this?!" He shouted. The guard opposite of the two began to back up as he looked out the window. The other two joined him to see that the courtyard had been covered in a layer of sleet. A stranger was walking through the courtyard, directly to the window they were gazing out of.

The man, with an uncaring glare on his face, pressed his hand against the glass. In an instant the glass burned red hot, and the entire window melted through. "Joestar and guest." he said, without wiping the glare from his face. "Please step this way, we should get going."

"He's one of them, shoot!" A guard shouted. All three emptied a clip at the stranger, but to little avail. The bullets slowed down to a complete stop as they approached him, and dropped to the floor. Dumbfounded, the guards stumbled around trying to reload their guns.

"Hurry it up." The stranger said. Jordan happily rushed to the window. He helped Haley climb out, and followed close after her. He turned around to see that guards had finished loading their weapons, and were preparing to aim them once more. Jordan smirked, and raised his hands to the place that the pane of glass once sat. The air around his hands gave off steam, and soon the empty window frame was filled with a sheet of hot metal. "Nice one." The stranger said with a smirk, finally showing his relaxed side. "Follow me, Zeke is waiting in our getaway ride." He ran towards the sunset, with Jordan and Haley following closely.

"What's happening Jojo?!" Haley shouted.

"We're escaping Haley! You finally get to see your family again!" Jordan shouted as he leaped happily. Haley's eyes lit up as she picked up the pace. They had made it past the easternmost wall of the compound before the alarms began to sound.

"Down there." The stranger pointed to a jeep sitting at the bottom of a hill. He leaped forward to slide down the hill, leaving a trail of frozen grass behind him. Jordan scooped up Haley, and followed closely behind. The stranger opened up one of the doors on the Jeep for Jordan and Haley to get in, and then climbed in the front seat himself. Jordan helped Haley in, and after everyone was buckled up Zeke peeled out. The four disappeared into the sunset, leaving all the guards scrambling to find them.

"It's a pleasure to see you again Mr. Joestar." Zeke said with a smile. "You as well little miss." He said to Haley. "I trust my colleague was gentle?"

The stranger bent around in his seat to introduce himself. "Call me Dan." he said with a smirk.

"Alright." Jordan said. "I know you two already know my name, but this is Haley." Haley politely waved as she was introduced.

"Indeed, I pulled up her file earlier. Are you excited to go home Haley?"" Zeke asked.

"Yes sir!" She said excitedly.

"She was calling you Jojo earlier." Dan said, sitting back down. "What's up with that?"

"His name is Jordan Joestar, so he's Jojo!" Haley said.

Dan chuckled, "I'm going to call you that from now on then." He said. Jordan shook his head with a smirk at dan's joke.

"Alright everyone, we'll be taking a SPWF helicopter to escape from this area. Prepare to board when we reach the airfield." Zeke said.

A fair bit of time had passed since the sun had completely gone down, and they had finally reached the airfield. "All aboard." Zeke said. Everyone climbed out of the jeep and approached a transport chopper with "SPWF" painted on the side. They eagerly climbed inside, and strapped in. Zeke helped everyone put on their headsets. "These will help us talk while the engine is going." He said. He gave the thumbs up to the drivers, and soon the propeller was spinning fast enough to lift them off the ground. "I love it when a plan comes together." He said.

"So it was your idea to skip the legal system and go straight to a breakout?" Jordan asked.

"I didn't see the positive points of waiting for a bunch of lawyers to get you out. I'm a hands on kind of person." Zeke smirked. "Now, why don't we introduce ourselves?"

"We already did on the ride here." Jordan said.

"Those were only half of what we need to introduce. We haven't covered the important part." Dan said. "Stands; the other half of ourselves."

"To start us off," Zeke said, "I have no stand, but I'll still do my best to lead you all."

"My stand can absorb and release energy." Dan held up a bottle of water so that everyone could see it being frozen solid. "I call it kinetic." As if on cue, his stand began to stretch from his body. Only its head could be seen, but it was obvious that is wasn't human. Its entire head was rounded, and didn't appear to have a neck. Two eyeholes could be seen, and between them ran a row of yellow bumps from the stands chest to its back. It was almost as though it were wearing a helmet, with the exception of there being no seam to separate it from the chest.

After getting a good look at Dan's stand, Jordan introduced his. "You've seen mine at work. I can change the chemical structure of anything I touch to an element from the periodic table." His stand appeared, cracking its knuckles. Unlike Kinetic, this one could almost pass for a human; except for its light green skin and skull like face. Spikes lined the sides of its head, and it wore what looked like a tight black coat. The palms of its black gloves were white, and were buttoned by what appeared to be buckles shaped like lab beakers. "I call it, 'Chemical Romance.'"

"And what about you? You don't need to be shy." Zeke said to Haley.

"I can't show him to you." She said, holding her arms tightly against her chest.

"They wouldn't let her use her stand, even for testing." Jordan explained.

"He told me his name is 'Slipknot.'" She said.

"That's alright. You'll be home soon; you don't need to worry about it." Zeke smiled, putting Haley at ease.

The four barely noticed the helicopter landing. After the pilots shook them awake they tiredly climbed out onto the tarmac. "Where are we?" Jordan asked.

"A private SPWF landing strip outside of Cleveland." Zeke said.

"That's where I live!" Haley shouted.

"I told you, you'll be home soon." Zeke said with a smile. Haley was so happy she hugged him. "Calm down, it's time to get going." He led them to a nice car that had been dropped off by a courier, and everyone got buckled up. Haley was so excited she was almost bouncing up and down in her seat. Meanwhile, Jordan was mesmerized by his first look at the outside world in years.

"It's just trees and houses, what's so exciting about that?" Dan asked.

"I haven't seen anything but white walls and courtyards for ten years, It's a big deal." Jordan responded. He and Haley were left to their excitement for about an hour.

"Does any of this look familiar Haley?" Zeke suddenly asked.

"Yeah! This is my neighborhood!" She sat up to look out the window. They came to a stop in the driveway of a familiar house, and Haley burst out of the car excitedly. Jordan and Zeke followed closely after her. Haley mashed the doorbell as many times as she thought necessary, and eagerly waited.

"Who's doing that?!" A masculine voice asked angrily. A man flung open the door expecting a prankster, but soon fell to his knees. "Haley? This can't be real." He said, obviously fighting back tears. He pulled his daughter to himself and held her tight.

"Haley?! Don't lie to me, who is it?" A woman asked. She walked up to the door to see her daughter; and collapsed just like her husband, holding the both of them tightly. "I thought I'd never see you again! How is this possible?!"

"Jojo and Mr. Zeke brought me back." She said. Her parents looked up to see the two men standing on their doorstep.

"Who are you, what were you doing with my daughter?!" Her father asked.

"My name is Zeke Allen, representative of the SPWF. My client Jordan refused to leave the establishment without your daughter." He presented Jordan with a wave of his hand.

"She's the same age I was when I was first sent there. I didn't want her to have to go through that like I did." Jordan said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Haley's dad stood up and gave Jordan a big hug like his daughter. "You brought my daughter back to me, I will never forget that." He said. When he was done hugging jordan he invited the two in.

"I'm sorry, but we have very pressing matters to attend to." Zeke excused them.

"Bye Jojo." Haley said sadly. "Thank you for bringing me home Mr. Zeke" The two waved happily as they left.

"Now, how about we reunite your family?" Zeke asked.

"My mom didn't visit me once in the ten years I was imprisoned. I won't give her the pleasure." Jordan said, hanging his head low.

"Well," Zeke began, "How about some breakfast?" Jordan looked up to smile at his offer.

Down the road from them, just out of sight, sat two shady men in a car. "That's them, right?" One asked.

"Well the report said one girl and two men, but I'm counting three." The other replied.

"One might be from the SPWF, they reportedly left in one of their choppers. How lucky are we to take this spot?" The first asked.

"Very lucky, I can't imagine what the reward will be for this bounty." The second one chuckled. "Speaking of bounties, does he want the girl alive?"

"Good question. Obviously the men have to die, but we might be able to use the girl." The first one thought for a second. "whatever is easier for you. Need anything before I leave?"

"Nah, theres plenty of cars around. I'll use one of them." The second one said, climbing out of the car.

"Alright; they're moving, got to go." The first one said, driving after Zeke's car.

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Pistol Grip Pump

"I didn't expect to find a place like this in Ohio." Dan said, marveling at the menu. They sat in the booth of an old fashioned diner. There were decals and framed photos covering all the walls, and it appeared as though there was only one waitress.

"Ohio?" Zeke asked. He only needed a moment to figure out the source of Dan's confusion. "Oh, no. This isn't Cleveland, Ohio. We're in Cleveland, Tennessee." Dan, embarrassed by his mistake, held his menu in front of his face as he made his choice.

"I've always wanted pancakes." Jordan said.

"You never had pancakes in that prison?" Dan asked, sipping his water.

"Nope, only waffles." Jordan frowned. It took a while for Dan and Zeke to pick out what they wanted from the list of mouth-watering dishes, but they eventually settled. After the waitress took their orders they began to talk about their plan.

"Alright, let's get down to business." Zeke said. "Right now a large amount of the reported stand activity is centered around Louisiana. We'll travel to Baton Rouge and try to determine the location of their leader."

"You don't even know where they are?" Jordan asked.

"It's too dangerous to send normal people to spy on stand users. Since you and I are the only stand users that work for the foundation it's hard to gather information." Dan explained. "Part of our job is finding the skulls we need to crack."

"Traveling isn't an issue. The helicopter is still at the hangar, so we should be able to reach Louisiana by tonight." Zeke thought out loud. "I know that this may seem a bit late to ask, but how would you say your skills are in battle Jordan?"

"Well," Jordan began to think. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he realized that he's never been in a real fight. "As far as fighting is concerned, I'm not too sure I can hold my own. I have a lot of control over my stand, though. I've been studying the periodic table ever since I learned what my stand could do."

"Don't be ashamed of relying on your stand. It's a power no normal person has; you should be proud of it." Zeke said with a smile. He lifted his head up as the waitress stepped through the kitchen doors carrying a tray of food. When she looked over at him he began to get excited. "All right, here comes the food." Everyone eagerly cleared a place for their food to be placed. After everyone had their plate, the waitress quickly retrieved a refill for Jordan and Zeke's coffee.

After mixing the right amount of sugar in, Jordan asked Dan a question. "Why didn't you get any coffee. There's no way you got enough sleep on the chopper."

Dan gulped down several mouth fulls of his water before responding. "Caffeine is bad for ya, kid." He spoke in a mocking way, but Jordan could tell he was serious.

Jordan removed the fork and knife from his napkin, eagerly awaiting the taste of the sweet cakes that lay before him. He stuck his fork through the edge of the stack, and began to cut a large chunk off. With a large smile he stuck the fork in his mouth, only to make a shocking discovery. As his teeth shut around the prongs of the fork, he realized that there were no pancakes on it. He quickly looked at the fork, then to his plate, and finally to the floor.

"What's wrong? Did you drop something?" Zeke asked.

"I think my pancakes dropped off the fork, but I can't find them." Jordan replied.

"What, you never used silverware in prison?" Dan joked. "Don't bother checking the floor, if it's there you don't want to eat it."

Jordan looked suspiciously at his pancakes before cutting off another chunk. He stared at the fork carefully as he put it to his mouth. When his teeth once again hit the metal prongs he knew something was amiss. "Something's wrong. I know for a fact I didn't drop my pancakes off the fork."

"Then what? Food doesn't just disappear." Zeke said. As he took a sip of his coffee his eyes shot open. "Where did all my coffee go?" He asked. Jordan and Zeke saw his empty cup as he placed it back on the table.

"You're right, something's up. Is this the work of an enemy stand?" Dan asked. He began to look around at the other customers; scrutinizing their every move.

"What kind of stand would it be? All that's happened is that we lost our food." Zeke said.

"Do you think it's taking our food?" Jordan asked. Dan jumped out of his seat and ran to a man sitting a couple tables away, pulling him from his seat. The waitress serving him yelled in surprise as she stepped back from the violence. "What are you doing?!" Jordan asked.

dan held the man by his collar and glared directly into his eyes. "You said the stand user was stealing the food that disappeared. Why would the waitress be bringing this man a refill of his coffee if its full?" Jordan and Zeke saw the full cup of coffee sitting on the man's table. Jordan also stood up to approach the man.

"Be careful, we still don't know what his stand does." Zeke said. Dan looked over to Zeke as he spoke; and when he looked back to the man, the man was gone. Instead of holding the man's collar in his clutches, he held a napkin. The man rushed through the front door and down the street.

"Jordan, we've got to catch him!" Dan shouted. He rushed out of the restaurant in hot pursuit. Jordan followed quickly after, leaving Zeke behind.

"Find out where their boss is!" Zeke shouted before Jordan got through the door. The waitress gave Zeke a strange look. "Please don't look at me like that. This is an official investigation."

Dan and Jordan were gaining on the man. Noticing that he wasn't very fast, he cut a right into an alleyway. When Dan caught up he saw something sailing at his head. He managed to catch it, only to see that it was an empty can. The surprise made him stop. He looked up to the man who had also stopped to see him standing next to a dumpster holding another empty can with a big smile on his face. He pointed to Dan's hand, chuckling. Dan quickly realized that he was no longer holding the can. Instead, he gripped the back fur of a raccoon. "What?!" He shouted. The raccoon stirred, and began to bite and scratch at his arm and outer thigh. It kept jumping around and attacking him until he managed to strike it away. He climbed back up to his feet, only to see the man reaching the other side of a fence at the far side of the alley.

"I've got it!" Jordan shouted. He ran through the alley and grabbed hold of the fence. A ghostly black hand appeared over his, and in an instant a large hole had appeared in the fence. A hot wind blew out from the fence, making Dan wince as it hit his scars.

"What was that?!" He shouted back.

"I turned it into oxygen. The heat is from the molecules separating." Jordan explained. The two rushed out onto the street to meet a strange sight. The man they were chasing was beating a parked car with some kind of rod. With one overhead slam he managed to shatter the front windshield, activating the car's alarm.

"Quit messing around with us you freak!" Dan shouted, running at the man. The man flashed a big smile as he fled from the scene.

"I'll throw something to slow him down!" Jordan said. The ghostly hand from before appeared once more, and a lump of metal appeared in its grip. As he held his arm back to throw the lump Jordan realized that it suddenly changed shape. Another look at his hand revealed that he was not holding the metal, but instead was holding the rod the man used to beat the car. Since he was holding he could tell that it was a cane. The man gave a shout soon after, dropping a chunk of what appeared to be metal to the ground.

"What happened to him?" Dan asked.

"I've figured out his stand's power!" Jordan shouted. "He can switch what he's holding with what we're holding. He burnt his hand on the chunk of iron I formed."

"And he switched that raccoon with the can he threw at me!" Dan shouted.

"If that's the case, then we can beat him by not touching anything. We run faster than him, if he doesn't trick us anymore then he doesn't stand a chance." Jordan said. Him and Dan were about to begin chasing the man again when they were approached by an intimidating man.

"What the hell did you do to my car?" He shouted. He grabbed Jordan by his collar and pulled him closer, staring angrily into his eyes. "I'm going to break every bone i can find in your body."

"Please sir, I didn't do this to your car!" Jordan shouted.

"That's him, he stole my cane!" Another voice shouted. An elderly man had shown up with a police officer.

"Drop him, I'll take it from here." The cop said to the angry man holding Jordan.

"Dan, you handle the cop." Jordan whispered. It took Dan a second to catch on, but he jumped into action once he did. He snatched the cane from Jordan's hand and rushed at the cop. Thinking fast, the cop pulled out his taser and masterfully shot both prongs into Dan's chest. He mashed the trigger to shock him, but to his surprise it did nothing. Dan stood there laughing as the cop looked down to confirm that electricity was flowing through the wires. He glanced back up in time to see Dan jamming both his forefingers into his chest. In an instant he felt a powerful surge, and fell convulsing to the ground.

"What did he do?!" The angry man yelled.

"I'm sorry, but we need to go." Jordan said. He called forth his stands arm, which formed aluminum around its knuckles. With one punch he knocked the angry man to the ground. After Dan handed the old man his cane, the two rushed in the direction of their foe.

They rounded the corner to see the man they were chasing leaning against a black car not too far from them. He seemed disgusted that his trap didn't hold them for very long. As they got a clear look at him they could see he was wearing khakis and a floral print shirt familiar to what a tourist would wear on a tropical island, but with long sleeves. "I don't have much experience fighting other stand users, but the cops should have slowed you down more than that." He said.

"So you feel like talking now, huh?" Dan shouted. "Why don't you start with who you are?"

"Jim Feeny; and since you've figured out my stand I'll tell you it's name as well." He said. He lifted his right hand to reveal that he was holding a strange bundle of wires. A black tribal tattoo with red outlines creeped out from his sleeve, eventually covering the visible part of his hand. "Pistol Grip Pump. I guess your next question is about the weird bunch of wires I'm holding." He revealed a small black cylinder in his other hand. "It's a bomb; and this is the trigger." Jordan and Dan took a step backwards at his statement. "Since you know how my power works, you know that the instant you touch anything I can blow you to smithereens. Don't bother rushing me either; I'm not afraid to blow myself up to get rid of you. My partner will be by later to take out whoever I miss; after he's done with that little girl you brought with you."

"What?!" Jordan shouted. "What do you want with her?!" he gritted his teeth as he became enraged.

"Cutting off loose ends. We get a better prize if we get all of you." Jim said.

"Who hired you to do all this? Who's your boss?!" Dan shouted.

"You don't even know who you ticked off? How pathetic could you possibly be?!" JIm laughed at the two. "We call him Dr. Love."

Jordan gazed over at an older man walking by. "Dan, did you get the information you wanted?" He looked back to Dan, who slowly nodded. "Good, I'm going to finish this quickly so we can go help Haley." He spun around to face the walking man, and ran towards him.

"Do you think I won't attack you if you take a hostage? Some hero you are; I have no problem blowing up this entire city, let alone some random pedestrian!" Jim shouted. Jordan ignored him and he dashed at the man. He called forth his stand to extend his reach, and snatched a water bottle out of his hand. Within moments it had been replaced by the bomb that Jim was holding. "You absolute idiot!" He shouted. "What did you think you could accomplish with a water bottle?!" He mashed the bomb trigger with his thumb.

Dan's eyes shrunk back into his head as he anticipated the explosion; but soon realized that there wouldn't be one. "What happened? Are you alright Jojo?"

"Where's the boom?!" Jim shouted.

Jordan held up a strange lump of metal in his hand with an ear-to-ear smile on his face. "There won't be any."

"What did you do to my bomb?!" Jim shouted.

"I wasn't sure of any combination of metals that could stop the explosion, so I stopped the signal. This germanium dioxide can be used to deflect signals, making it perfect for turning your bomb obsolete." Jordan replied. "But I wouldn't want to send you out without a bang, so I made a new bomb for you." He pointed to the water bottle Jim was holding.

Jim held the bottle up to get a look at it, only to notice that the bottom half of it was made of some strange, white substance. "What kind of water bottle is this?" he shouted.

"Everyone knows that sodium ignites when mixed with water; but not many people can tell you about its violent cousin. Behold the majesty of francium!" Jordan shouted back. The white substance began to sizzle before suddenly exploding in Jim's hand. He fell back from the force that rended his shirt into scraps and burnt his chest. His hand didn't fare much better, the skin that was burnt before was blown open, profusely leaking blood. His ears beheld intense silence, and his vision slowly faded.

Dan checked him out before giving him a sharp kick. "Idiot probably has a concussion. Nice work Jojo." he said.

"Thank you, but we have to hurry back to Zeke, Haley is in trouble." Jordan said.

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Nine Inch Nails

Haley ran up the stairs in an excited rush. She hadn't seen her room in what felt like forever, and burst through the door when she reached it. She leapt onto the bed, scattering stuffed animals everywhere. She layed on her back, spreading all her appendages out on the bed. However, she only relaxed for a few seconds before realizing that she was too excited to wind-down. As she hopped out of her bed, she heard the front door close. Curious, she made her way to the top of the stairs to inquire. "Dad?" She asked.

"Yes hun?" Her dad poked his head out so that she could see him. "That was your mom, she went to the store to get some things for dinner."

"What is she getting?" Haley asked.

"Well since our little angel is back, she decided to fix something special, possibly involving chicken." Her dad said with a grin.

"Is it my favorite? The one with the salad dressing?" Her eyes opened wide as she asked.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe." Her dad said, teasing her. "Why don't we watch a movie while we're waiting for her, then you can ask once she gets back." Haley nodded happily as she sailed down the stairs. She dashed into the living room and began to look through a large white cabinet sitting against the wall.

The cabinet was filled completely with video tapes and dvd's. After only a few seconds of looking, Haley pulled out an old vhs tape. "I want to watch The Lion King." She said.

"You remembered just where it was didn't you?" He asked. He chuckled as he took the movie from its case and placed it into the vcr. The large plasma t.v. displayed the tracking bar as he was sitting. Haley sat right next to him, and he pulled her close to hold under his arm. As the first preview was playing, he hit the fast forward button on the remote.

"No, I want to see all of it, even the commercials." Haley complained. She tugged on his arm until he pressed the play button. As the previews resumed their normal speed, the doorbell rang.

"Sit tight sweetie, I'll be right back." He answered the door to see two strangers standing on the steps outside. One wore a black jacket, while the other was entrenched in some sort of tan coat that covered every visible part of his body. The coat seemed to be a strange blend of leather and wool, clearly synthetic, and he wore a hat of the same material to hide his face. "May I help you gentlemen?"

"Sorry to bother you sir, but I'm here on behalf of the "Standing Branch." The man dressed in black said with a small bow.

"You people huh?" Haley's dad asked. He quickly prepared to lie about Haley's location.

"Yes, I'm sure you are familiar with us. Your daughter was being tested at one of our buildings. This may come as a surprise to you, but your daughter has been abducted by a man who escaped our custody last night." The man said.

"What do you mean? What happened to my daughter?" He asked, fully flexing his bluffing ability.

"Please do not be alarmed, We have many teams looking for her. I'm here to check that she hasn't returned home." The man said.

"Well she hasn't, now hurry up and find her." Haley's dad said with his teeth bared.

"Well sir, I need to step in to check that you are right." The man replied. "I promise it won't take but a moment, all part of procedure."

"You take my daughter from me, lose her, and now you want to come into my home? Is this some kind of insult? Find my daughter or there will be hell to pay!" He shouted in reply. His sharp outburst left a period of silence between the two. That period just happened to be long enough for the movie to reach its opening; the iconic african chorus. The two men at the door easily overheard the movie, and began to get curious.

"You say your daughter has yet to return home. Am I to believe that you are a grown man, home alone, watching The Lion King?" The man asked.

Haley's dad hesitated for a fraction of a second before replying. "It was her favorite movie. I watch it now and again to remind me of the daughter that you took from me."

"Yet it wasn't important enough to pause once you heard the doorbell ring?" The man asked.

Haley's dad began to sweat bullets, knowing that there was no time to hide his daughter. "Get off my property and find my daughter!" He shouted, swinging the door to slam it shut. It crashed into something that stopped it from closing. The strange man that hid his face had stuck out his foot to keep the door open, and violently pushed it to open it once more. As the door whizzed by dad's face he could feel his anger rising. "What the hell are you doing?!" He shouted, his insides boiling.

"Mr. Winger; like it or not, we are a branch of the law. We have already obtained the rights to enter your house, seeing as it is the missing person's previous home. After a quick search we will be out of your hair." The man in the black jacket said. The man who hid his face remained silent and stoic as he marched into the living room. As the man in black joined him, they saw that Haley was not watching the movie.

"She isn't here. Please, just leave." Mr. Winger said, giving a sigh of relief in his head.

"Now, now. We must search every room, and then we shall leave." The man in black said. He made his way through the living room, towards the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye, Mr. Winger saw his daughter slowly making her way out of the kitchen and down a hallway. he ushered a silent cheer for her escape. However, it was for naught. The man in black jumped from the kitchen in pursuit of her. "Got you now!" He shouted.

Thinking fast, Mr. Winger grabbed the baseball bat that he had jokingly stored in the umbrella holder by his front door. He got a running start as he put all his weight into swinging the bat at the man in the tan cloak. A metallic noise exploded outward as the bact impacted the man's head, knocking his hat to the floor. Mr. Winger stared in disbelief at the man. Not only was he unfazed from the impact, but the lack of hat revealed his sinister face. It was as though his head was made of crumpled, blue metal; and his eyes resembled yellow gems. "He's seen too much, plan B!" The man in black shouted. The figure in the tan cloak stood up to deliver a crushing blow to the side of Mr. Winger's head, knocking him out in one go. The man in black turned around to see that Haley was gone. After hearing a screen door slam shut he began to bark more orders. "She went out the back! Nine Inch Nails, find her!" The figure, who was presumably the man in black's stand, gave a loud, metallic roar as he charged down the hallway.

* * *

Outside, Nine Inch Nails spun in place. It carefully looked for anywhere the little girl could run to. Its eye was caught on a crooked plank in the fence that surrounded the yard.

"What's going on Haley? You were gone for like, ever; and now you're acting all weird." The little girl said. Her and Haley were crouched down inside a plastic playhouse, trying to hide.

"They put me in a bad place, but my friend got me out. Now there are bad men trying to take me away again." Haley whispered in reply. "I'm sorry I hid here Molly, if he finds us..." She trailed off.

"Don't worry, we'll be safe from any bad guys in my magic fort." Molly said back. The two listened out to hear the fence being torn down. "What kind of guy is he if he can just crash through that fence like that?" Molly asked, beginning to panic.

"I think he's a stand." Haley said. "It's a superpower, like I have. It's why they took me away."

"You've got super powers? Why didn't you tell me?!" Molly asked. "Just use your powers to fight him!"

"No, I can't. I can't use Slipknot. He could hurt somebody." Haley said. She could hear a low rumble in the back of her mind. "No." She said to herself, covering her head like she had a headache.

"What's wrong?" Molly asked.

"Slipknot." Haley said in reply. She heard a rumbling growl that mimicked an alligator. It slowly grew louder as it evolved into some form of speech. Be it the language or the tone, Haley simply couldn't understand it. "He knows I'm in trouble." Right after she said it, the plastic house flew upwards, yanked away by Nine Inch Nails. The two girls screamed at the sight of it. It stretched out its hand to grab Haley, but stopped as it noticed a fourth presence. It quickly looked up, only to be blasted off its feet. Standing nearly eight feet tall, Slipknot had been unleashed. Though its frame seemed skinny, it was rippling with muscle. Its pale white skin pulsated with bright red veins that ran into its burlap-like clothing. What little clothes it wore were torn away and ragged at the shoulder and thighs. It slowly began to walk towards Nine Inch Nails, what was left of his long hair sprouted from his visible scalp and swung to and fro in front of his mask. The mask seemed as though it was once white, before being covered in mold and dirt, and closely resembled a hockey player's mask.

"What happened?! Why did he go flying backwards?!" Molly shouted.

"Slipknot is fighting him, you have to run!" Haley shouted in reply. "If he sees anyone near me he gets mad!" Molly began to panic, and followed Haley's directions to run away. She had safely made it inside her house before Nine Inch Nails had fully stood back up. In retaliation for the blow it suffered earlier, it punched Slipknot square in the forehead. Haley felt the blow to her skull, and cried in pain as she gripped her head. Slipknot didn't seem to notice the punch, but upon seeing that it had hurt Haley it began to seethe with rage. It let loose a deafening roar from its bowels that shattered the windows on Molly's house, and even cracked one of Nine Inch Nail's gem like eyes. Slipknot then proceeded to wrap its massive hand around Nine Inch Nails' head and squeezed with all its might. Nine Inch Nails held its arms up, but got no further than them violently shaking as its head was constricted. Slipknot then grabbed hold of his opponent's shoulder, and ripped the head from its body. It dropped the decapitated body, not reacting to the fact that it landed on its feet, and turned to look at Haley.

As it slowly walked towards its user it was struck in the back by a pair of fists that put it on its knees. Haley cried out in pain, trying to compress the welt rising on her back. Slipknot convulsed in frustration as it saw the pained expression Haley bore. It spun around, throwing a punch that connected with the one Nine Inch nails' headless body was throwing. The two punches met at the same distance, but Slipknot's kept going; crumpling Nine Inch Nails' entire arm. The crushed appendage flew off of the body, landing several yards away. As it stumbled backwards Slipknot caught it. Like a scene out of a horror movie, Slipknot got a grip of either side of its opponent's chest, and ripped it apart down the middle. A ball of nails resembling a sea urchin rolled out of the chest cavity and stuck into the ground. Slipknot tilted his head inquisitively at the unique sight, and watched as the ball rolled around. it ripped up the grass and dirt around itself, forming a new humanoid form. The form leapt to its feet and began to flee the yard, causing Slipknot to chase after it with a frustrated huff.

Haley tried to find a rhythm of breathing to calm herself down, but was interrupted as she was snatched up by the man in black from before. "You thought your stand could save you huh?" he held her close to his chest, constricting her arms. "My Nine Inch Nails can't be stopped just by brute force girlie." He chuckled. He only needed one arm to hold the poor girl in an immobile state, and used his free hand to dial his cell phone. "Yeah, this is Gerry. Bring the ride around, I got the girl. Be careful though, the stands are fighting in the street."

* * *

Slipknot's hulking frame was nowhere near as fast as the dirt form its enemy wore. Figuring this out, Slipknot yanked a mailbox from the ground and sent it after Nine Inch Nails like a spear. The dirt around the urchin crumpled from the impact, causing the core to fall out and roll across the street. It picked up pieces of the asphalt as it rolled, forming a new body that stood nearly 12 feet. It mocked the action of cracking its knuckles as it stared down the now puny-looking Slipknot. Since its new body was so dense and large it had a new time swinging its arms around. It picked up the appendage in an attempt to smash Slipknot into the ground, only to have the stand side step the attack. Slipknot swept its arm through the body of the colossus, sending the urchin flying out and across the street.

The strength of the blow was such that the core had flown into the house across the street, and stuck in the siding. It rolled up the siding and bricks of the house, forming a giant torso and arm. As its destruction of the house reached the roof, so too did it reach the basement. Nine Inch Nails now stood at nearly 30 feet tall. It threw its arm forward, catching Slipknot in its clutch. The hand began tightening around Slipknot, causing Haley to scream in pain. Slipknot looked to see Gerry sneaking down the street with Haley wrapped up in his arms. A rage of magnitudes beyond comprehension welled up. Haley could feel the muscles on the back of her head becoming sore from the stress of Slipknot's anger. The eyeholes of its mask let out a strong red glow, and his muscles swelled up so rapidly and powerfully that they broke through Nine Inch Nails' fingers.

Slipknot fell to the street, and stuck the landing. It began to run after Gerry, but was buried under Nine Inch Nails' other hand. It let out a victorious laughing sound as Slipknot disappeared beneath its fist. Gerry stopped to admire the work of his stand, but slowly came to realize that Haley had not reacted with pain to having her stand crushed. "Why aren't you screaming in pain? You're supposed to feel all the pain your stand does, so why aren't you crying?" He asked, beginning to sweat nervously.

"That attack didn't hurt him." Haley said. Gerry Quickly shifted his attention between his stand and Haley, his sweat intensifying. He responded in the only fashion he could think of, running. He had run about ten yards when Haley winced in pain, sucking air through her teeth. Gerry looked her over, noticing her hand was bleeding. Upon closer inspection, he saw that her palm and fingers were covered in bleeding holes. he instinctively wanted to start running again, but felt as though this entire body was numb. He managed to turn his head around to see Slipknot leaping from the chest of the monster that had crushed him, holding the urchin-like core. Its grip on the core was so tight that gerry himself couldn't even move. Slipknot proceeded to pull nails off of the core, sending intense shocks of pain through Gerry's legs and fingers. He dropped Haley as he tried to cope with the pain that wracked his body. "You feel all the pain that your stand does, right?" Haley asked. Gerry, with a face contorted by the pain of having his fingers pulled off, slowly nodded. "Then I'm sorry. I can't stop him now." Profuse amounts of tears rolled down Gerry's cheeks as Slipknot jammed its thumb into the space it had created between the nails. It kept pressing harder and harder until the core let out a thunderous crack. Gerry let out what he thought was a scream, but more closely resembled a gurgle, before passing out. The core turned to dust in Slipknot's hands, and it stood up to walk to Haley.

It knelt down in front of its user, and gently held her injured hand. Upon seeing the holes, it hung its head low. Tears of a bright red liquid streamed down its mask, and it held Haley tight in a hug. Despite its intense strength, the hug was very warm and comfortable. Haley patted its back with her uninjured hand before speaking softly to it. "It's okay Slipknot. Thank you for saving me, but next time don't come out unless I ask you too; ok?" Slipknot sat back and nodded at her proposition before fading away into nothing. She looked around to see people staring from their front doors. She knew how strange it must seem to them.

Zeke, Jordan, and Dan showed up soon after. They saw to Haley's injuries, but she insisted that they look after her dad. Mr. Winger was rushed to hospital with minor skull fractures, while the mysterious Gerry was treated for a crushed lung and dislocated extremities. Even though the chaos of the fight had subsided, Zeke knew that the SPWF would have to pay for the relocated house. It was also troubling that Dan and Jordan had knocked out a cop not too long ago either. "Well, this looks like the start of a bizarre adventure." Zeke thought to himself.

TO BE CONTINUED


	4. Shine Runner

Zeke pulled out his SPWF cell phone and flipped over to his contacts. with a couple thumb movements he had dialed up Jordan. "Jordan, where are you right now?" He asked.

"The hospital, with Haley's dad. Why?" Jordan asked back. Mr. Winger slept peacefully, his head bandaged from his eyes up. Mrs. Winger slept in the chair next to him.

"Because the police are looking for you and Dan. You do remember that you assaulted an officer, right?" Zeke asked. "We need to leave Cleveland as soon as possible, and you shouldn't be in plain sight."

"I'll come back after I say goodbye to Mr. Winger. I owe him that much." Jordan replied. He ended the call and placed the phone back in his pocket. Mr. Winger grunted soon after, waking his wife.

"Good morning Jordan." He said, seeing that Jordan was waiting for him. "You still haven't left yet?"

"No sir. I wanted to say goodbye first." Jordan replied. "And, I'm sorry this happened to you."

"I don't hold it against you Jordan. You brought my family back together, I could never thank you enough." Mr. Winger said. "Now, shouldn't you get going?"

"Yes sir." Jordan said with a smile. "And don't worry about witness protection, the SPWF will take good care of your family." He said, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Jordan climbed into the back of Zeke's car, firmly shutting the door. "Where are we headed?" He asked.

"About time you got back, let's peel out." Dan said, annoyed of waiting.

"We'll head south of I-59. Our next real stop is Gadsden Alabama." Zeke said.

"We aren't going to fly in a helicopter?" Jordan asked.

"No, the enemy was able to tell that we were headed for Cleveland, TN. I assume they have some kind of access to the SPWF flight charter. If we take a helicopter there's a huge possibility that we'll be attacked again. We've also decided to stay away from major cities." Zeke explained. "We'll be driving for a long time, so if you need to use the bathroom I suggest doing it now."

After they got situated in the car, and bought a few snacks, the three took off down the road.

After hours of driving, with occasional bathroom breaks, the group reached the town they had set out for. The sun was only an hour from setting, and Zeke started paying double attention to his G.P.S. "That took less time than I thought it would, but it's still getting late. We should still settle down at a motel." He said.

"Are we going to stay at one of those motels with free breakfast?" Jordan asked.

"You better pick out one with a good choice at breakfast." Dan said, looking out the window.

"You two focus on the strangest criteria. Are neither of you going to complain about not staying at a real hotel?" Zeke asked.

"A bed is a bed." Dan said back. "Besides, the enemies know were using SPWF resources. They'd be less likely to check the registry of motels if they think we're free to use funds as we wish."

"I'd like to stay in all kinds of places. I'm fine starting with a place like a motel." Jordan said.

"As long as you're fine with hanging out there alone." Dan said.

"What do you mean by that?" Jordan asked.

"Zeke and I are going to hit the local bars for information on Dr. Love." Dan replied.

"True." Zeke said. "Unfortunately, since you're only 18 you can't drink. You'll have to wait for us in the room."

Jordan mulled it over as they drove. "It's fine." He eventually said. "I'm used to being alone in a cold, tiny room."

"If you're trying to guilt me, you should just give up." Dan said. "I don't fall for guilt trips when they get in between me and a good time."

"Sorry Jordan, but it looks like our plans are staying the same." Zeke apologized. They soon picked out a motel to stay at, and took the first available room with two beds. Jordan agreed to sleep on the cot that came with the room, provided that he gets to sleep in the bed of the next motel they stay at.

* * *

After they got settled, and the sun had set, Zeke and Dan set out to hit up a few local bars and dives. Zeke couldn't manage to find a single person who had heard of Dr. Love at the first two. By the time they had reached the third bar Dan had only had a couple shots of watered down liquor and a beer. He plopped down on a bar stool at the third bar and tapped the counter to garter the barkeep's attention.

"Excuse me, but do you have anything over five proof behind that counter?" Dan asked sarcastically. The barkeep, who was trying to get a peek at a girl on the other side of the establishment, glared back at Dan before sliding a shot of something his way. "Finally, a bar that doesn't disappoint." He slammed back the shot before angrily staring at the shot glass. "This is water you punk!" He shouted.

The barkeep smirked slyly. "Eight bucks." He said with a tip of his head.

"Hey, you trying to be part of your own bar fight?!" Dan shouted, almost climbing over the counter.

"Calm down Dan!" Zeke shouted. He held onto Dan's waist to hold him down. When Dan shifted his attention from his "anchor" back to the barkeep, the man was flashing a shotgun from under the counter. Dan looked between the man and the gun a couple times before sitting back into his chair.

"Isn't there a single worthwhile bar in this town?" He asked.

"I can see yer havin a rough night there buddy-ro." A southerner with a voice like honey spoke from behind him. The stranger took a seat next to Dan. "Don't worry about Buck, no one else does." He said. He looked with a grin at the barkeep, whose feelings were seemingly hurt by the remark. "My name's Bobby, and I ain't never seen you two here at this bar before."

"Yeah, we're just passing through. We've been looking for someone." Dan said back.

"I hear ya. Say, why don't you have a drink on me?" Bobby asked, pouring himself a drink. Dan smiled and nodded at his offer. "Alright Buck, two more glasses for these gentlemen." He said.

"Come on Bobby, I told you to stop bringing in outside alcohol." Buck whined.

"And I told you to be nicer to tourists." Bobby snapped. "Two more glasses." He glared with a fiery intensity until Buck handed him two more glasses. With a smirk, he happily filled them with liquor.

"I'm not sure we should accept these drinks, Dan. He seems a bit too eager to have us drink them." Zeke said.

Dan slid Zeke's glass in front of him and spoke with a grin. "It's called 'southern hospitality.' Don't make him feel bad. Slam it back, and let's have a good time. Zeke reluctantly sipped at his glass, while Dan eagerly chugged it. "That's some good fire water." He said.

"I like you man." Bobby said with a smirk. "How about we finish this bottle? Think that it'll make up for the eight dollar water?" Dan gave a huge smile. Five glasses later Dan was feeling a little groggy. He and Bobby were sharing inappropriate jokes with plenty of laughter; and Zeke sat still, staring at his glass in silence. "Wait, wait." Bobby said. "Didn't you say you were looking fer someone?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah! We're on a manhunt for some guy called Dr. Love." Dan said. He looked over to Bobby to catch a glimpse of a sobering sight. The bottle Bobby had poured all their drinks from was still full. He began to feel uneasy as Bobby continued to talk.

"Dr. Love? Sounds familiar. Why would you boys be lookin fer him?" Bobby asked. He slowly peeked over to see a large, ghostly figure appearing above Dan. He quickly hopped off his stool to get away from it.

"So you're a stand user!" Dan shouted. He made his stand grab Bobby by the collar and hold him in place. "Zeke, hurry and back off. We have no idea what his stand does!" Dan looked over his shoulder to see Zeke sleeping on the counter, passed out.

"Looks like yer pal can't hold his booze." Bobby said with a smirk.

"What did you do to him?!" Dan shouted.

"You're the one that made him drink it." Bobby smirked.

Dan caught a glimpse of the bottle in Bobby's hand. The small character on the label was audibly laughing at him. "How about I suck all the heat out of your skin and turn you into a popsicle?" He asked. "Kinetic!" He shouted, signaling for his stand to do his bidding. A few seconds after, he noticed he couldn't move. "Wh-what?!" He shouted. He saw that his Kinetic had been covered in a sheet of ice.

"Maybe you shoulda listened to yer friend when he tried to stop you." Bobby said, breaking himself free from the stand's frozen grasp. "Now you're both under the effect of my 'Shine Runner.'"

"What did you do? You were supposed to be frozen!" Dan shouted.

"So I see. Thank golly me stand does what it does. Normal people like yer pal here just get drunk, but stand users like you pass on the inebriation to their stands." Bobby said with a grin.

"Wait, My stand froze itself because it's drunk?" Dan asked.

"Good to see yer payin attention." Bobby said. "Now tell me yank. Why are you and the stand user gang bangers passing through town causin trouble?"

"Trouble? It's only me and Zeke, and we just got here!" Dan said.

"Only you and Zeke huh? You freaks have been goin and commin as you please fer weeks. Don't expect me to let you punks have yer way with my city." Bobby said. dan looked around for help. All the other bar patrons seemed to be purposely ignoring them, while the bartender glared at him angrily.

"I think I know what you're talking about! We're after Dr. Love, the guy that's been sending all the stand users through. That's why we're here." Dan said. "I promise, information is all we're after."

"You serious?" Bobby asked. "Listen kid, I like ya. Yer a real fun guy, but that don't mean I'm gonna fall fer any ol' malarkey you spout."

"That's fine with me." Another voice spoke. The two looked over to see a stranger with a black cape walking toward them. "Thank you for detaining these two. They were starting to become a real threat to Dr. Love. Once they're out of the picture, that Joestar kid will be hopeless."

"Now hold on there hoss. A gentleman introduces himself first, and did you say Joestar?" Bobby asked.

"Of course. call me Trigger." The stranger said. "And this is my friend, Iron Butterfly." As he said the name, a frail figure veiled in a black cloak appeared. Its eyes were massive and black, while its head looked like a brain.

"It's one of them dog gone punks!" Bobby shouted. "Buck, unload on him!" The bartender eagerly hoisted the shotgun from under the counter and fired a round at Trigger. the floor in front of him, as well as the ceiling above him splintered from the impact of the buckshot, but he seemed completely unfazed. The bar patrons caught on to the situation and quickly began to flee the building, along with Buck who was startled by the bulletproof Trigger.

"How silly." Trigger said. "You attacked unprovoked, and before you even understood my stand's power. I was going to spare you as thanks for incapacitating my foes, but now I suppose I'll end your life as well."

"Not so fast. what makes you think you can beat my stand?" Bobby asked.

"You've already revealed your stand's trick. You can't fool me into drinking it now." Trigger smirked.

"Hurry and sober up my stand! I can take this guy easy!" Dan shouted.

"Calm down kid, this dog still has some fight in him. Sides, that ain't how alcohol works. You just sit back and watch. Then you can introduce me to yer Joestar pal." Bobby said with grin.

"You just don't get it. You've already lost this fight. You can't get me to drink your stand, so there's no way for your power to affect me!" Trigger shouted.

"All I need is to get some alcohol in yer system, and there's more than one way to do that!" He smashed his stand against the bartop, leaving the neck as a handle for the razor sharp, broken glass knife.

TO BE CONTINUED


	5. Iron Butterfly

Trigger stared down his foe. "If you're already resorting to fisticufs, then you don't stand a chance." He smirked.

"Fisticufs? Son, I don't need to fist fight you. I just need you to take a drink." Bobby said. He swiped the broken bottle in front of himself, sending a large splash of liquid of of it. Trigger stepped back in surprise as the attack came out. However, instead of being covered in liquor, the liquid stopped in front of him; as though it had hit some invisible wall. Bobby could see the liquid trickle down the barrier, before all of it suddenly fell to the floor; like the barrier had disappeared.

"I see. The alcohol comes from the bottle itself. It can still produce liquor whether it's whole, or broken. It would be troublesome if a bit were to hit my lips." Trigger said.

"What's up with that? Yer stand makes a shield huh?" Bobby asked.

"Hmph." Trigger grunted. "It's so cute when people try to figure out my stand." He threw his arm in front of himself to initiate an attack. Bobby felt something impact his face, and soon it pushed him all the way to the front wall of the bar. It felt like a wall was pushing against him, suffocating him, crushing him. The pressure built up on his chest and head, causing him to vocalize the pain he went through. He pushed back against whatever it was that was crushing him, and found it to be malleable enough to bend away from himself. He was able to catch his breath in the dent he had managed to fold, but noticed that the barrier was slowly becoming more rigid. He stressed his arms against the barrier that was slowly bending back on him. "Don't fight it. Just let Iron Butterfly squeeze the life from your body." Trigger said. Trigger's stand stood right next to him, watching the event play out.

"That's some range you got." Bobby choked out through his pain. "How is he doing this from across the room?" Bobby thought to himself. He quickly looked around for a clue. Above his head he spied a floating arm, slowly floating closer to him. He noticed that the barrier seemed to get stronger as the arm descended, and made a move to stop it. As soon as the arm appeared to be in range, Bobby smacked it with the broken bottle. Although the bottle shattered even more; he managed to send the arm flying away, sending the barrier toppling down with it. The arm zoomed over to Iron Butterfly, along with three others. "Now I've figured you out! You must use those arms to make some kind of barrier. From the feel of things it seems like plastic."

"Well done. You have deciphered that I can make a barrier. I agree that it may seem a bit flimsy whilst it is spread out." Trigger said. He waved his hand to make his stand form another barrier. It held its floating arms in a square pattern, and produced a thick pane of something between them. The hands were only a few inches apart, and the corners of the barrier lie in between the fingers. The barrier itself was incredibly thick, much more so than when it was crushing Bobby. "However, when the corners become closer together, the barrier becomes thick like reinforced glass."

"I get you now. I wont be able to stab you, and you can easily stop me from splashing you with my shine." Bobby said. He held his arm out straight, holding the neck of the broken bottle straight up with it. "But you must be dumber than a dead frog if you think that's gonna beat my Shine Runner." Clear liquid began to pour out of the broken end, which was slowly regenerating. The liquid ran all over the floor, sweeping up bits of broken glass with it.

Bobby dashed straight toward Trigger, soaking the floor in alcohol. Trigger simply held the barrier in front of himself, knowing no alcohol would touch him. Bobby ran right up to him, but feinted to the left at the last moment. He swiped the bottle at Trigger, releasing another splash of liquid. Trigger manipulated the barrier in the fastest way he could, tilting it. The corner of the barrier managed to block all of his face, but allowed some liquid to hit his clothes. Bobby jumped backwards to avoid a counter attack, but stumbled into a support beam for the bar.

"Now my suit will smell like this backwater, hillbilly bar!" Trigger shouted. "I'll cut you down where you stand. When my barrier stretches out it can be reduced to a razor edge. Iron Butterfly!" He commanded. The barrier shot forward in a horizontal position. As it flew, a flash of light shot into Trigger's eyes. He grunted and covered his face in shock. While his eyes were covered, he heard his barrier cleave through the support beam effortlessly. He began to chuckle at the thought of Bobby's chopped up body. After rubbing his eyes to help them adjust to the light he looked to see that Bobby was missing. "What?!"

"Heads up." The frozen Dan chuckled.

Trigger looked to his right to see a bottle crashing into his face. Liquor splashed on him, and the broken glass produced small cuts all over. "Thanks fer telling me yer barrier was like glass!" Bobby shouted. "When you moved it, it reflected the lights off the liquor on the floor, and into your eyes. That gave me just enough of a window to catch up to you and win!"

"You have yet to win anything!" Trigger shouted back. His stand's fist flew into Bobby's chest, knocking him down. "I may have ingested a bit of your drink, but I still haven't digested it. Now you don't possess the luxury of waiting for me to get drunk from it!" Trigger thrust his arm toward Bobby, telling his stand to slice through his foe. To his dismay, his stand formed a razor sharp barrier right through his waist. Bobby began to laugh at Trigger, whose face wore the expression of hopelessness. "What..." he said with a wispy breath.

"I told you, I won. You thought you needed to digest my Shine Runner's alcohol to have yer stand get drunk; but you apparently don't understand what drunk is. When you digest alcohol it passes into yer bloodstream. When you get enough in yer blood, yer drunk. Now tell me 'Mr. Genius Yankee.' What's that there on yer head?" Trigger slowly manipulated his arm up to wipe his head. His eyes shrunk when he saw the blood on his hand. "That would be a cut. Meaning I got my shine directly into yer bloodstream. Instant inebriation, a la Shine Runner." Trigger's wound was pouring out blood, and his stand began to disintegrate. The barrier dissipated, and Trigger was split in half. "You didn't stand a chance against Shine Runner." Bobby said with a grin.

"Hey, hurry up and unfreeze me." Dan said.

"You idiot. If yer stand does the opposite of what you tell it to, then just do the opposite of melting the ice." Bobby said. "I have my own problems." Dan noticed that blood began to pool around Bobby as he lay on the ground.

"Are you alright?!" Dan shouted.

"What makes you think I'd be alright after breaking my stand three times? Hurry up and get me to the E.R." Bobby snapped.

* * *

There was a knock at the door. Causing Jordan to stir from his sleep. He sat up in his cot to see Zeke, Dan, and a stranger walking in to the room. "What time is it?" Jordan asked.

"Three." Dan replied.

"I'm sorry to wake you, but there's someone We'd like you to meet." Zeke said. Bobby plopped down in a chair with a briefcase in tow.

"Pleased to meet you." Bobby said. His shirt was ruffled enough that Jordan could see the bandages around his stomach. "You must be the Joestar. Tell me, how well do you deal with authority figures?"

Jordan hesitated to answer the question, having just met this man. "The only authority figures I know are the ones from that prison they kept me in. I quickly learned to hate them."

Bobby began to smirk. "He's a Joestar alright. I can see it in his eyes; that, and his amazingly rigid jawline." He said.

"Who are you?" Jordan asked.

"This fine gentleman attacked us in a bar." Zeke said. Jordan gave a concerned look at Zeke, who brought the man into the room.

"Calm down. He thought we were working for Dr. Love. After one of his real henchmen showed up, Bobby here took care of the problem singlehandedly." Dan said.

"He even enlightened us to a clinic that operates in discretion." Zeke said with a smirk.

"Ain't the first time I've been in a scrape at midnight." Bobby said. "And the way things are looking; it won't be the last."

"Bobby has decided to join us on our search for Dr. Love." Zeke said.

"You don't need to do that Bobby." Jordan said. Surely you learned from tonight that we're being hunted by some rough guys."

"You're being hunted by the rancid skunks that have taken to rompin around my home as they see fit." Bobby said. "Side from that, I got another reason. Ma always told me about the Joestars. My favorites were the stories about president Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli."

"I wouldn't know much about that. I never got any family stories in lockup." Jordan said.

"I'm sorry kid. No cop in this town would break up a family for something as dumb as psychic children ghost stories. I don't know what you went through, but I'm here for you now. Bobby Zeppeli has your back from now on." Bobby said.

"Wait, Zeppeli?!" Zeke shouted. "You're related to Gyro Zeppeli?"

"The Zeppeli's are known for big families. There are little Zeppelis all over the place, I'm sure. But, for a Zeppeli with a stand to go on an adventure with a stand using Joestar? Sounds like destiny to me." Bobby said, drinking directly out of a liquor bottle in his hand.

"This is only our first stop, and we're already deep within a bizarre little adventure." Dan said.

* * *

The four continued their conversation, unaware of prying eyes. "Yes sir, Dark Tranquility is in place." The woman said.

"Good. We've lost too many good men; perhaps I should have just sent you to begin with. Follow them to their next stop, and when they separate; kill them." The voice on the phone spoke.

"We swear we will not fail you Dr. Love." The woman said.

"I know you won't baby. I believe in all three of you groovy chickies, and you all have a special surprise waiting for you when you get back." Dr. Love said in his funky dialect.

The woman on the phone began to turn red at the thought of what Dr. Love meant. "We can't wait to get back, can we girls?" She asked. The two other girls in the car both swooned at the thought of returning victorious.

"I know chickies. No girl can resist my Dr. Love." He said, chuckling evilly. He hung up, leaving the girls to plan.

"Alright girls; when they reach their next stop and split up, we kill them." The other two laughed at the plan. "I'll use dark Tranquility on the Joestar boy." She said.

"The drunk is an easy target. Korn is perfect." Another girl said. "That just leaves Pat."

"Don't worry, I can handle the angry one just fine." Pat said. "Golden Brown is a great match for his personality."

"Then it's decided. We'll take Zeke back to Dr. Love as a prize. Get some sleep girls, we have marks to chase in the morning." The first girl ordered.

TO BE CONTINUED


	6. Dark tranquility

The team hit the road relatively early in the morning. They stopped at a gas station just outside of town to fuel up and buy some snacks for the road. As Jordan stepped out of the car, and into the sun, he felt a strange sensation on the back of his neck. He rubbed the spot, only to find that nothing was there. He could feel the strange sensation on his neck until he got into the car once more, when it subsided. He avoided talking about it, thinking that he had no real reason to worry.

They drove for what felt like forever. Jordan, despite his once unbridled love of the outside world, he had grown bored of the same old trees that lined the highway. He looked around at the other cars that drove with them, hoping to see some interesting models. When he looked out the back window, he saw something that unsettled him. Not too far behind them was a car that He remembered seeing not only in the parking lot of the motel, but also at the gas station. "Zeke, I think we're being followed." He said. "That car behind us has been everywhere we have today. The window is too tinted to see the driver."

"Alright, I'll take this next exit. If they follow us, then we need to get ready to fight." Zeke said. He quickly cut onto the exit, leaving the other car speeding down the highway without them.

"You were just being paranoid." Dan said.

"No, never doubt a Joestar's instincts." Bobby said.

Taking advantage of the small detour, they decided to refuel once more; as well as eating some late lunch. It was about an hour before they hit the road again. They all settled back into their driving doldrums, and after another extended period of time, Jordan saw the car tailing them again. "It can't be the same car. I'm just overthinking things." He thought to himself.

* * *

At last, they had finally arrived at their destination. "Welcome to Brookhaven Mississippi." Zeke said. Jordan looked out behind the car to see if they were being followed. To his overwhelming belief, there was no car in sight.

Zeke parked in a shopping area near a park, and everyone got out to stretch. "Finally, a chance to walk around!" Dan said excitedly. He began walking toward the park.

'Hey, hold up." Bobby said. "Jojo said something about people following us. We shouldn't be splitting up if we're being watched."

"No, I was just being paranoid, like Dan said." Jordan said. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

"Goodbye Jojo." Dan cheered. He continued on his way to the park.

"Are you sure?" Bobby asked. Jordan nodded confidently. "Alright then. Guess I'm gonna go hit up that bar then." He said, pointing with his thumb to a building down the street. Jordan waved goodbye as he and Zeke began to walk down the street.

As the afternoon sun beat down on him, Jordan could begin to feel the strange sensation on his neck once more. He huffed with annoyance, rubbing his neck. "Is something wrong Jordan?" Zeke asked. Jordan simply shook his head "no," and continued walking. After a fer minutes, he began to feel similar sensations on other parts of his body. His arm, legs, stomach, and hands were all tingling. He patted and swatted the spots, trying to stop the tickling. "Are you sure you're alright?" Zeke asked.

"Yeah, I just need to sit down" He replied, feeling light headed. "I guess the car trip was more exhausting than I thought it would be." He sat on a bench and leaned beck. "Don't worry about me Zeke, I just need to rest a bit."

"Alright. I'll go ask around for a few minutes; and then we can find a place to stay the night." Zeke said before wandering off. Jordan nodded lazily with his eyes closed as Zeke left.

Once he was alone, Jordan began to look around the city. He enjoyed the buildings and trees planted in the street. The people passing by smiled and waved as they did so. The town seemed happy, simply for existing; and it in turn made Jordan happy. The only discomfort he had was the tingling sensation. "What is going on with me?" He asked out loud, hanging his head. As he looked at the ground, he saw something moving. He quickly adjusted his body to get a better look, only to discover a shocking sight. There were strange lumps wriggling in his shadow. They looked like thick worms, and they just so happened to be connected to the places that were feeling strange on his body. He double checked himself to make sure nothing was on his body. "This has to be the work of an enemy stand!" He shouted.

"What kind of attack is this? How do I stop it?" He asked himself. He jumped out of his seat to find the stand user, only to stumble around in place. He caught his balance after nearly falling over. His entire body felt weak, and he began to figure out why. "Leeches." He said to himself. "These 'shadow' leeches must be sapping my strength."

He tightened his jaw as he began to figure out his situation. "I have to stop this attack, but I can't just attack shadows. I'll have to take out the stand user to make them stop." He looked around for someone that could be the user, but only saw happy people walking the street. "Think Jordan." He said to himself. "The tingling started at two times, both of which when I stepped out of the car. What is it about the car that stopped the attack?" He didn't think about it for very long before he felt a sharp pain on the side of his head. He looked down at his shadow to discover that the leeches had disappeared, and were replaced by the shadow of a large bird. The bird flapped around before ripping at Jordan's arm with its talons. "AH!" He cried. He spun around to run down the street, discovering that he was sluggish from the shadow leeches feeding on him.

He ran past a group of girls walking down the street in single file before turning around to check on his distance from the bird. To his fright, the bird had changed into the shadow of what appeared to be a mountain lion. Knowing that he stood no chance of outrunning it, he tried to trick it by jumping into a small alley between the nearby buildings. Exhausted from the leeches, he fell to the ground and sat up against the wall of the alley. The shadow stalked its way up to the entrance of the alley before pouncing at Jordan. He closed his eyes, anticipating his fate. Several seconds passed with no pain, prompting Jordan to peek. The shadow had disappeared, and left no trace.

"That's it!" Jordan said to himself. "The shadow of the alleyway. It can move freely through the shadows, but it can't attack me unless my shadow is visible. That's why I didn't feel anything in the car, I sat in the seat that hid my shadow!" He began to think about how to deal with the stand user. "The sun is setting, meaning that these buildings cast their shadows out onto the street. I can run in them to avoid an attack. Good, because I now know who the stand user is." He stood up, careful not to let his shadow appear, and stepped out onto the street. With a determined look, he ran toward the group of girls he saw earlier.

When he had caught up, he leaped from the shadows and threw a mighty punch with his stand's fist. The blow whizzed by one girl's head, nearly missing. She was so surprised that she fell over onto the street. "What the heck?! What's wrong with you?!" She shouted.

"Don't bother playing dumb, you won't trick me stand user!" Jordan shouted back. The other girls in the group started to scream and run away. The girl in the street began to sweat, Jordan had called her bluff, despite the fact that she hid her eyes behind pitch black glasses. "A shadow's length is proportionate to the length of the object casting it, and the position of the sun. At the right time of day, a six foot man will cast a six foot shadow. I may not know the formula exactly, but I do know that you are nearly the same height as those girls you were walking with. Why then, is your shadow one-third the size of theirs?!"

The woman gasped and tried to jump to her feet. "Dark Tranquility, tear him to ribbons!" she shouted. The big cat shadow leaped out towards Jordan. This time, however, Jordan knew exactly what to do. He brushed his hand to the side, causing his stand to throw out some strange dust that erupted into a pure white flash.

When the woman regained her eyesight, she saw that Jordan had stepped back into the shadows. "I was aware that you would attack me when I jumped out to attack you, so I had a plan in case my punch didn't connect. Magnesium is used in flash grenades, a little of that could cancel out any shadow."

"I see, you've figured out that Dark Tranquility can't attack you without touching your shadow. But, I know my stand better than anyone else boy. I always come prepared." She said, pulling a featherlight out of her pocket. it was powerful enough to show the shadow of Jordan's head on the wall behind him, leaving plenty of space for Dark Tranquility to strike. Jordan didn't consider a counter attack, he simply ran. "You can't get away fast enough boy, I sucked up your energy with my stand. All your movements are now dull and sluggish." She began to chuckle, following Jordan with her light. Jordan may have been moving slowly, but she didn't offer much of a chase herself.

"Finally, it kicked in!" Jordan shouted. He began to book it at an insane speed, leaving the woman in the dust.

"What?! How are you moving that fast?!" She shouted, unable to keep up.

* * *

Eight years ago:

Poor little Jordan Joestar has spent the last two years of his life locked away in the Standing Branch Detention Center. Although he has grown slightly accustomed to his life here, it's still a prison. Most of the prisoners are adults; and while the rest may be children, none of them get along with Jordan. He has very few friends, but the ones he managed to find are as loyal as they come. One such friend just happened to be an older man named Harris.

"Come on and watch this movie with me Jordan." Harris said.

Jordan sat down in the viewing area with his friend. "What movie is it?" He asked.

"Oh, just some old action movie. It's meant to pump up your adrenaline?" Harris replied.

"What's adrenaline?" Jordan asked, inquisitive as ever.

"What do I always say Jordan?" Harris said with his eyebrows raised, hoping Jordan knew what he meant.

"If you want to know what something is, just look it up!" Jordan said excitedly. He ran off to the library in an excited rush.

"That kid is such a good student." Harris chuckled.

A few weeks later, while a group of inmates were having their time to walk around the courtyard, Jordan said something strange. "Thanks for telling me about adrenaline Mr. Harris. I guess this is goodbye."

"What do you mean by that?" Harris asked.

"I found out the chemical formula for adrenaline. It's the first formula I've really bothered to memorize. Since adrenaline can cause your body to go into over time and boost your natural abilities, I figured I'd use it to escape." Jordan explained.

"You'll do what now?" Harris asked with a patronizing smile. "Kids these days have good imaginations alright."

"No, you don't get it." Jordan said with a stoic frown. "I've been practicing for weeks to make adrenaline with my ability. Now I can do it flawlessly." He looked into Harris' eyes with his own full of purpose. "I'm going to make it in my bloodstream, then I can outrun the guards, and escape."

Harris knew that Jordan was too stubborn to stop. "Alright kid, It's a goodbye, I'll miss you." Jordan gave a huge smile before bolting away at top speed.

* * *

Present Day:

"C9H13NO3." Jordan thought. "I managed to get pretty far before a guard shot me in the leg. I didn't feel it of course, due to the adrenaline, but the force knocked me down. While they were treating the bullet wound they found out that my little experiment had caused some internal bleeding. I constantly practiced putting adrenaline in my blood until I finally got it right. Not that it mattered though, they never let me outside again." Jordan continued to run until he found what appeared to be an abandoned building. The windows were old and tarnished, and the ones that weren't were painted over. "Perfect." He said with a smirk.

The woman eventually caught up to him. "Dark Tranquility is excellent at tracking, you should have found a better hiding place." She opened the door to a large, dark room. She barely had to strain her eyes to see Jordan's silhouette on the far wall. "The Chinese believe that a man's shadow is synonymous with his soul." She said. "My stand attacks your weakest point, your soul! You made a huge mistake hiding in here. All the lights make their own shadow, surrounding you in your own weakness!" She flipped the lightswitch, spilling Jordan's shadow in all directions, and revealing her stand sitting right next to it. The mountain lion pounced, tearing through the shadows. "NO!" The woman shouted.

The shadows turned out not to belong to Jordan, but an iron statue shaped like him. She turned around to see him standing behind her. "I'm fairly skilled with my stand's power. A rough sculpture like that was nothing." He said with a smirk. He pulled out his stands arm, forming aluminum around its knuckles.

"You wouldn't hit a girl would you?!" She pleaded. "Didn't anyone teach you better than that?!"

"Well, it's tough to learn good morals from armed guards." Jordan said. Chemical Romance struck the woman in her gut, incapacitating her. "But, I won't hit your face."

Her stand faded away as she held her stomach, and her shadow resumed its original size. "I... where am I?!" She managed to spout over her pain. Before Jordan could react to her question, she passed out.

"What was that about?" Jordan asked. "Something isn't right here, I hope everyone else is okay..."

TO BE CONTINUED


	7. Korn and Golden Brown

Bobby drew closer to inspect the bar. It seemed to be like the one from Gadsden, dingy. Bobby smiled and moved to enter when he noticed a strange decoration outside one of the windows. A strange tree grew from the concrete street against the window. There were trees planted at regular intervals down the street; but they were in designated plots of dirt. This one grew straight out of the concrete, and had a bizarre shape to it. "I suppose I wouldn't know much about 'new fashioned decorations.'" He said before stepping inside.

The inside of the bar was strikingly similar to his favorite one in Gadsden; with severely less light, and much more cigarette smoke. The silhouettes of the other bar patrons could be seen against the far walls, revealed by the dull neon of the bar decorations. Only one person sat at the bar. Bobby occupied the stool next to the person at the bar; a woman of about 25. "Welcome stranger." She said.

"Howdy." Bobby replied with a smile. He looked around for the barkeep, but didn't find a trace of him. "Hey, anyone there to serve me?" He asked. "If not, I'm gonna help myself to a glass!" He snatched up a cup from behind the counter, and began to pour his Shine Runner into it.

"Do you always bring your own drinks to a bar?" The woman asked.

"I bring my own drinks everywhere. Thirsty?" He asked, waving the bottle.

She moved her drink back and forth gently, making the ice click against the sides. "I got my own before the bartender went into the back. He's been gone a while; but it must be normal, because no one in here seems to notice." She looked over her shoulder at the other people sitting creepily far away from the bar.

"Well, it's a pretty dingy place. The only customers must be regulars, and us of course." Bobby said. He looked around the dimly lit building for something interesting. "Hey, these yers?" He asked, pointing to a dish of peanuts sitting on the bar counter.

"No, they were here when I came in. They must be free for the customers." She continued to slowly sip at her drink.

"Well; if they weren't, then they are now." Bobby shelled a few, and popped them into his mouth. "Ya Know, these people could stand to show a little more hospitality." He said, looking over his shoulder at all the other patrons. "I'll go say hi, and warm things up a bit."

"You're a very forward fellow. You almost come off as rude." The woman said, staring at the ice floating around in her drink.

"You must be from up north. You just don't get what it's like to be a good person." Bobby chuckled as he stood up. The woman gritted her teeth at his comment, twisting her face with an excess of rage. Bobby made his way over to the closest table to introduce himself. "Howdy. I just blew in from Gadsden, anyone up fer some conversation?" The closer he got, the stranger the people seemed. They had weird hair, and growths running down the back of their neck. Aside from that, they were perfectly motionless. "I'm not a bad guy, come on." Bobby said, trying to get their attention.

He walked up close to tap them on the shoulder, only to notice that their skin was stiff and rigid. In fact, their shirt felt rough and dry. His tap elicited no reaction; and though the light was dim, he was close enough to see why. There was no person sitting in the booth, it was a tree in the shape of one. His stomach began to tingle; and the feeling slowly spread out. "Well no wonder they didn't answer, it just more of them fancy decorations." Bobby chuckled to himself as he turned back toward the counter, the tingle crawling through his guts. He calmly walked to the price door of the bar, smirking proudly. "What are you doing? Employees only!" The woman at the bar shouted.

"Well unless you work here you ain't stoppin' me." Bobby pushed through the door and into a kitchen. He walked forward a bit before he said anything else. "Hey, is anyone back here?" He asked, rounding a corner. The door to the manager's office was open, prompting Bobby to stick his head in. Instead of a man sitting behind a paper covered desk, it was a tree. The tingle in Bobby's guts slowly turned into a dull pain. With his hand on his stomach, he turned to see the woman from earlier standing behind him.

"Men are so eager to eat up what women offer, especially when it isn't theirs." She glared at Bobby with hate filled eyes. "No one would suspect a little peanut to be their undoing; present company included."

The dull pain quickly sharpened and writhed in Bobby's stomach. "You must be a stand user!" He gasped, falling to the ground. He sat on his hands and knees, drowning in the pain.

"My Korn has sprouted. It will extend its roots through your body, slowly turning you into a tree. All you men are greedy fools; every one except for Dr. Love. He is the pinnacle of mankind, and a true example of a real man! Once we kill you three; he will grace us with his touch." Her face turned red as she held her hands on her cheeks. Just the thought of her "reward" made her eyes roll back, and her toes curl.

While she fantasized, Bobby slowly pulled his Shine Runner out from under him, glaring at the woman. "I already know your stand's ability, that's why I refused the drink. Our stands work the same way, you have to trick your opponent to make full use of them." The woman said. Bobby popped the top off of the bottle with his thumb, and began to hammer back the alcohol inside. The woman looked at him with confusion and disgust. After a few moments of chugging, he coughed up his liquor onto the floor. He retched and coughed up blood, going out with a whimper rather than a bang. His fit of wheezing and hacking escalated as something resembling a hairball rose up his throat. With a few long heaves, a ball of roots and clotted blood dropped to the floor.

After spitting out a bit of excess blood, Bobby began to chuckle. "You plum idjit. Tellin' someone yer trying to kill about yer stand is a no-no. I couldn't make you drink from my position; but since plants drink through their roots, I still got it drunk." A clawed hand reached out of the red clump on the floor. As it grasped at the woman, the roots began to grow. They raced across the floor, covering her shoes.

"No!" She shouted as she was pulled to the floor. She was enveloped in roots and wood, and disappeared under a fast growing tree. Bobby simply chuckled, and spit out more blood.

* * *

Dan walked very slowly; his shoes tapping audibly against the concrete path. He was in rare form, staring at the leaves on the trees. He stepped in a particularly warm ray of sunshine, and stopped in his tracks to enjoy it. He shut his eyes and smiled, tilting his head upwards. As he absorbed the light he felt something bump straight into him. He lost his balance a bit, but was able to catch himself by stepping backwards. A woman had carelessly walked headlong into him, dropping her purse to the ground. She seemed too dumbstruck and embarrassed to talk, so Dan did it in her stead. "Sorry, let me get that for you."

She smiled warmly as he bent over and picked up her bag. When she tried to take it from his hand, she accidentally scratched his wrist with her nails. He proclaimed his pain quickly, and sucked a bit of air through his teeth. "Sorry about that." He said, his face a bit twisted. "Wait," he thought to himself, "why am I apologizing to her, it's her fault."

"You don't have to apologize, it's my fault." She said. She shouldered her purse before she said anything else. "My name is Pat. I'd like to say I'm sorry. Maybe you'd like some ice cream?" She flashed her eyes at his. Dan couldn't help but notice that she was pretty, and figured that no one should decline free Ice cream. The two began to walk, close at hand, down the paved walkway. Dan thought it was nice, considering what his life has been like lately.

A boy was playing with his dog, and threw a frisbee for it to catch. Pat spun around in place to watch the dog run by, bumping her shoulder against Dan's arm. He immediately noticed how strong she must have been, as a sharp pain shot up his nerves. "Oh, sorry." He said, holding his arm. His heart skipped a beat as he realized something was wrong. "I don't even apologize when things are my fault!" He thought to himself. "Is this an attack by an enemy stand? Is she the user?!" He stared at her carefully as she watched the dog. His mind was clouded; how could she be plotting to kill someone and so innocently watch a dog at the same time?

He decided to keep a close eye on her, and not reveal his suspicion. They reached the ice cream stand after a few more minutes of walking, and Dan wasted no time placing his order for vanilla. "Vanilla? You didn't seem like such a boring person." She said.

"Boring? Vanilla is made from the seed pods of a jungle orchid that are dried in the sun for 6 months! Vanilla is a miracle food that, gram for gram, is the second most expensive spice in the world; and you call it boring?!" Dan was fired up to prove the superiority of vanilla.

"I thought you might be easy to rile up." She smiled and playfully punched his arm. He jumped back in shock; spotting a golden, ghost-like hand appearing over hers. Knowing now that she was, in fact, an enemy stand user; he summoned his stand to deliver a punch. She quickly pulled out hers to block it; revealing its golden, sewn together face. It grabbed the punch effortlessly, and held Kinetic's arm with a steel grasp. The golden stand raised its other hand for a punch, but Pat felt a chill on her arm. She looked down to see that the hand her stand had used to hold Kinetic's was frozen over. Before she got the chance to look back up, she felt a heavy blow against her cheek. Kinetic had blasted the golden stand in the face with a supersonic punch.

Pat landed on her back; her face beginning to smart. She wasn't bleeding, but there was enough pain that she needed to close both her eyes. "Whoa! What's going on here?!" The ice cream man asked. He had finished scooping the vanilla cone, and Dan noticed that it was melting. His eyes widened, and he turned around to see a golden shoulder connecting with his chest. The impact left him on his butt and out of air. All he could push himself to do was sit there and stare at Pat, he very nearly apologized, but caught himself.

"When she hits me I get more passive." He thought. He mustered up his will to fight, and bolted away from her in the opposite direction. As he headed for the Forest around the park, Pat began to grow angry. She bared her teeth as she rushed after him; leaving the ice cream man with a melted vanilla cone.

Dan had long since penetrated the tree line by the time Pat had caught up. She tracked him through the trees by the broken sticks and rustled leaves he left behind. She saw the end of the path coming up, and cautiously looked around. Kinetic swung around from behind a tree, sucker punching her in the gut. She winced and stepped back, but the punch wasn't strong enough to do serious damage. "I know your stand takes away my will to fight when it hits me. As long as I can avoid getting hit, I can whittle you down." Dan proclaimed.

"I knew you were too hot-headed to fight me!" Pat said with a wicked smile. "You think you can win when you only know half of your foe's abilities. My Golden Brown doesn't just pacify you when it hits; it becomes enraged when I'm hit!" Golden Brown emerged, its muscles swollen, and eyes red. With all its strength it planted its fist through the tree Dan was using for cover. The dry leaves around around her were smoking as Dan ran away again. "You won't escape from me, Golden Brown's vision is exceptional!" She shouted after him, hot on his trail.

Dan ducked behind a tree, but Golden Brown's fist soon came through after him. He managed to duck under the flying splinters to jam his stand's elbow into Pat's mouth. Her teeth cut through her lips, and her blood hit the ground soon after. She screamed at the top of her lungs, her rage igniting the Forest floor. The flames spread out with a rushing wind of rage, consuming the area around them. Golden Brown brought its fists together in an attempt to crush Dan's head. His stand's head appeared around his, and the fists lightly tapped against it. "What? How did that not break your skull?!" Pat screamed.

"Kinetic absorbed the energy from your punch; making it more like a 'love tap.' It's a lot easier to do when I know you're attacking me." Dan smirked. Golden Brown threw another punch at his stomach that merely tapped his stand. "It's over. You've given me everything I need to beat you." Kinetic appeared around him, flexing decisively. The fire around them burning higher. The tips of the flames seemed magnetized to his stand, and the outer wall of the flames seemed to retreat. Soon, all of the flames had disappeared into Kinetic, and the vegetation around him started to frost. "At first I just ran into the woods to hide; but when you told me how your stand works, I noticed that it gives off more heat the madder it gets. I pushed you enough that you lit the dried leaves, and gave me a perfect source of fuel. Kinetic can absorb any kind of energy; from the kinetic of your punches, to the heat of a fire. Then, I can release it!"

Kinetic reared its fist back and thrust it into Golden Brown's chest. The punch itself was weak compared to its receiver's physique, but the wave of force that accompanied it blasted all the leaves away. The trees rustled loud enough to roar, and the treetops bent away from the point of impact. It all rushed straight through Pat's body, giving her a concussion. Within a few seconds she was blacked out on the forest floor, and Golden Brown faded away.

"Good grief." Dan said with a grin.


End file.
